Two conference-workshops concerned with manipulative therapy were held in 1975, one sponsored by NINCDS and the other by the University of California. With somewhat different emphases, they examined the clinical and basic science aspects of manipulative therapy, summarized the state of the art and identified a number of unresolved questions for further exploration. Both were concerned with biomechanical faults in the musculoskeletal system, especially in the spinal and paraspinal areas, and with their neurological aspects, clinical manifestations (mainly pain, and impaired posture and locomotion), diagnosis and manipulative amelioration. The purpose of the proposed workshops is to extend these exploratory discussions more deeply into the pathophysiological relationships between the musculoskeletal and visceral systems of the body, and into the influences of manipulative therapy on these relationships. The major concerns of these workshops should be the roles of the nervous system and of the circulating body fluids in mediating somato-visceral relationships, and the related mechanics of the musculoskeletal system. Three workshops are proposed, to be held at Michigan State University: Neurobiologic Mechanisms in October 1977, Hydrodynamic Mechanisms in October 1979 and Biomechanical Mechanisms in October 1981. Support is requested at this time for the first of these workshops. The objectives of these workshops would be (1) to formulate hypotheses and new questions about these mechanisms as a basis for design of new investigative approaches and (2) to improve our understanding of somatic-autonomic integration. These objectives would be accomplished by: (1) reporting new original research and summarizing past findings on these mechanisms, with specific reference to somato-visceral interrelations and the influence of manipulation on them; (2) reporting new and summarizing past research which has not been directly concerned with manipulative influences on somato-visceral relations, but which may illuminate the underlying mechanisms; and (3) discussing the contributions that these findings may have to understanding the mechanisms through which manipulative therapy influences the clinical status of the patient.